Anne Gide contemplated the Gate and its surrounding wall. Up until now, the bricked-in huge door frame had been filled, but bricks had slid into some kind of hidden recesses as soon as they had defeated the final guardian of the lair, uncovering a blocky Gate literally inset into the wall of the lair.

Transit: Comdosa - Maytevar

Integrity: 100%

Active

Stability: 100%

“First time I’ve ever seen such a setup,” she said.

“Entrances to trunks are often a surprise,” Hrosskell Guthrumsson replied.

“What happens if you come in… from the wrong side in the trunk?” Nicolas asked, eyeing the solid bricks barely visible behind the Gate’s surface proper.

“You end up on your rear, with usually a huge chunk of health missing as it bounces you back across the Gate. And if you cross the right direction too slowly, you end up sprawled on the floor, with just enough time to see the bricks coming back together if you turn over fast enough,” the Icelander said.

“You’ve done this?”

“Not on this particular one, but one similar enough.”

“The bouncing or the sprawling?”

“Yes.”

The rest of the Inquisition team sported smiles at the quip.

“Now, Johann will go in with you to help with the initial tier-eight and seven openings, as the ancients are still a bit nasty in there. Then, once you’re good to enter tier-six, you’ll be on your own, and he’ll join us. Just avoid the central Legends and you’ll have no problems for that level of difficulty with just you two.”

“While you three have to work to open up an access I’ve had for eight decades,” the German shot back.

Piérrin de Bellièvre, the team’s healer, shrugged at the barb.

“We all have access down to tier-six in this one, since the tier-seven trunk is an interesting connection to two already opened Divergences, including a rare trunk-to-trunk connecting zone. One zone, two different trunk Gates accesses for the price of one. But the other teams with known access to there aren’t interested in coming.”

“I still haven’t figured out how to thank the Library – or the Council – properly for pushing all this suddenly,” Nicolas Gide said.

“They’ve realized that there’s probably a lot more than just your own Divergence that has lain fallow. We just had a few insane years when we found you, Divergences opening late or very close to each other, and trying to do everything at once. And too many young Lords push themselves the wrong way; the earlier we catch them and tell them of the Adjustment trap, the better. But yes, there’s a good chance we can find your Divergence among those leads. That said…”

The Inquisition leader’s voice trailed as he entered the Gate. Despite the appearances, both Gides knew the man would have used Fast Travel to his true destination. The two others waved before plunging into the Gate surface, leaving the three of them alone.

“Shall we?” Johann asked with a flourish.

Then the Gide couple felt the full six-person team descriptor vanish, and a new notification came.

Assistance requested by Johann Hausseger?

Yes

No

Neither wasted time before acknowledging the request as they plunged into the newly-opened trunk zone.

Jonas and most of the team were relaxing, taking some mulled wine and sugared sweets in the common room of the Labyrinth Office headquarters when a small commotion occurred just outside of the door. Jonathan, who had reached finally exactly 100 Focus noticed it first, of course, but it was almost immediately obvious to anyone.

“Well, there you are!” O’Hogan yelled as he swung the doors open.

There were half a dozen of other Professionals, sporting considerably weird clothes. Most of it was… mundane? It looked that way at least. But Jonas had no idea what all that meant.

“Uh?”

“It’s nearly midnight!”

“And?”

“And it’s descriptor time!”

Jonas suddenly remembered that last year impromptu watching.

“Haven’t you all have seen descriptors all over the place by now?”

“It’s the new year. And the Gate is open. That’s what it means! Come on, all of you lazybones.”

The gaggle of Professionals swarmed them, dragging them out. Most of them were relatively low, with maybe a few high tier-three. They could have resisted, but it was useless.

So instead, they went on an impromptu procession across the streets between High Labyrinth Office headquarters and the Gate clearing.

When they reached the clearing, the crowd of Professional revellers split them and Jonas suddenly realized that there were six of those branching lantern posts. He turned to Odhran O’Hogan.

“That’s your doing?”

“Yep. The Faire sponsors this New Year!”

Jonas let himself be positioned in front of the lamppost, and then, the crowd started chanting. And when the distant bell of the Gatepost church started sounding, they all started slapping him on the shoulder. Watching the Gate leading to London, still there, still open for yet another year.

Transit: Grailburg – Earth-113

Integrity: 100%

Active

Stability: 100%

As often, Jonas wondered about the 113. Now that he knew about the Zulus, he wanted to ask their King about the number. What it meant.

But he doubted he’d ever be allowed to ask. The brothers and his first contact seemed sure their Kingdom was hostile to others.

For now, he just had to endure repeated slapping, as Professionals grasped, fleetingly, what it felt to be able to see the hidden descriptors of the Labyrinth.

Entering Wrapelst straight from Gatepost felt like you were hit by a furnace. They knew what to expect, of course, since they’d crossed the Gate before Christmas to acquire it as an option.

Wrapelst was another desert zone. Unlike Outapis, which was mostly rocky, this one sported huge expanses of sand, like the vast desert Jonas knew was supposed to be at the heart of northern Africa. The Gate proper was on a small rocky flat, with bare brown-yellow rock, surrounded by rolling waves of stained white sand. Up in the sky, streaks of white marked elongated clouds, a few thin bands of vapours stretching across the otherwise empty sky.

“First thing first, find the zone wall,” Jonas said.

“Then we map, then we head in,” Ira acknowledged.

The sand would be making progression slightly annoying. Not as much as it would for mundanes trekking in the Sahara, but still.

“This one is property of the USA, they can keep it,” Alton noted.

Jonathan snorted back.

For once, the zone border helped. From afar, the contrast between the whiteish sand and the rocky moss-covered grey was perfect. The band of non-zone area stretched across the horizon from the top of one of the tallest dunes.

“Looks like a good twelve miles between Gate and border,” Jonas noted on his notebook.

He had a small blank booklet, rather than the usual Zone book, as the Archives didn’t include books on that area. Their usual reference volume, ‘Great Line & Under’, ended with Mirolon, and even the zone simply had a single half-empty page listing zone connections and Professions. Jonas had filled it and the white page that followed with copious notes on the seven lairs they’d found, including the two high-level ones they hadn’t tried.

After a week in the zone, the team was getting quite annoyed. The sand got into everything, despite the Labyrinth’s usual cleanliness. By now, Jonas agreed with Alton’s initial assessment. They were probably not going to stay long in this one. Hyenas prowled at night, similar to the ones from their original zone of Othary, albeit nearly a hundred and a half higher. Huge lizards, barely distinguishable from the sand, caught them by surprise. Even if none were dangerous for a team at their levels, the zone did its best to look unwelcoming.

The sandy expanse was dotted by small oases, ponds of clear water surrounded by the only greenery of the zone. Even the Plaza had been surrounded by a circular lake, with a rocky path leading to the “official” entrance.

The Recall Stone was still there, a set of three sandstone orbs glued in what looked like an unstable position, the middle orb being squeezed out by the top one. Obviously, the Americans didn’t grab every Stone within range.

Finding lairs was slightly easier in this environment, though. Not every oasis had one, but they found three low-level ones, a huge Water Hole that had only elites, and one cave in one of the small rocky sand-less parts.

This one, though, was entirely unexpected.

They stumbled on the entrance by complete accident. Crossing one dune, Jonathan had noticed what looked like a hole in the sand. From close, the sand had sunk lower, and if you looked from the right angle, you could see a rocky outcrop covered by sand, and a tunnel angling downward.

“That’s the kind of lairs everyone will miss for decades,” Ira noted as they peered in. The tell-tale yellow glow from deeper indicated Power Crystal lighting, a sure indication of a real lair rather than a simple cave.

“That’s why it’s hard to find trunks. You’re never entirely sure you haven’t missed one,” Jonas replied.

“Shall we?” Ira said.

“You still have to find an Ancient,” Jonathan replied.

“Okay. That one is going to be weird,” Jonas said from the first platform.

The tunnel had been relatively long, almost a thousand feet in a straight line, dotted with small Power Crystals, but completely empty.

Then they came out of the tunnel and found themselves in the lair proper. An immense circular cavern, plunging into depths. The platform they were on was crystalline rock, carved in hexagonal plates not quite aligned. Jonas looked down and didn’t see a bottom. The yellow light of the Crystals highlighted some very light vapour, obscuring the lower parts of the area.

Location

Zone: Wrapelst (tier 3)

Locale: The Depths

Recall: Grailburg, Gate to Earth

Recall: available

Gates: 4/4

Tier 1: Zolferras (disabled)

Tier 2: Donerkal

Tier 3: Wrapelst

Tier 4: Rayleche

Fast travel: 2 charges, 2 days until next

The entire cave was lighted by scores of Power Crystals of all sizes. Most were fist-sized, but huge ones – possibly twenty pounds of major crystalline concretions – dotted the border of the platforms around the cave walls.

“This is the kind of lair that would make Laufrey’s weep,” Alton said.

“I’m surprised this isn’t exploited,” Laura wondered.

“The entrance is too well hidden,” Jonas replied.

“Do you think you can sell the info to your American friend?” Ira asked.

“Maybe not…” Jonathan frowned.

“We’ll see. Hopefully, she’ll be there for the Twenty Year Anniversary next month,” Jonas said.

“Hopefully.” “Right.”

The first platform had two paths leading around the cave, sloping downward, and from their vantage, they had a first look at the lair’s inhabitants, located on different platforms.

Industrious Dwerg × 3

Level 126 veteran

Health: 2694

Mind: 758

End: 2578

Aether: 0

Despite the dwarf-sounding name, the creatures were nothing like small people. If anything, they looked more like the molemen they’d seen in one of their early lairs, furred humanoids with squashed heads and long claws. The biggest difference was a long tail, reaching almost to the floor.

“It’s going to be tricky fighting them on those platforms,” Jonathan said.

“We both rush it, and you all come just behind,” Ira added.

The two defenders got themselves ready, then started running along the path. The three Dwergs’ heads turned, probably alerted by the sound of armoured bodies rushing their location. Both men tried to push the mole-rats off the platform, but as Jonas had expected, the creatures were uncannily agile. One almost lost its footing, and the tail elongated and whipped around, wrapping itself on a near-invisible crag, righting the creature. It pushed against Ira, who had to scramble back, lest the Dwerg put him between itself and the platform’s edge. Both defenders backed toward the cave side, as the rest of the team entered the combat area.

Industrious Dwergs chitter: -63 × 3 mind.

Once properly positioned, the fight went on smoothly. With only the occasional disturbing chittering attacking mind levels, they cut down one, then a second, then the last in short order, with only a few heals.

Industrious Dwerg × 3: 3812XP/6 contributors = 615XP.

Jonas looked toward the next platform. A single path led to it and the two Dwergs that were located on that one, but the path split again, a second one going back. He looked down, spotting the platform located partially under their current one. From there he could see a Supervising Dwerg, an elite, and an Assistant Dwerg veteran. He couldn’t see a descriptor indicating a treasure chest, but it looked like a guardian spot.

“That way,” he indicated.

“On it,” Jonathan replied.

The team readied itself and started running toward the next platform and its two veterans. The easier fight didn’t last very long, and Jonas watched the second path. It was slightly longer, and led to a four-critter platform, with two paths. He traced the path upward, finding the string of platforms leading back to the entrance.

“This is a maze.”

“Remember the tree maze?”

“You didn’t risk falling down in there. And you didn’t have options.”

Supervising Dwerg

Level 122 elite

Health: 4506

Mind: 1283

End: 4303

Aether: 0

Assistant Dwerg

Level 122 veteran

Health: 1902

Mind: 1811

End: 332

Aether: 3159

“Veteran first, that’s a caster.”

Jonathan pointed to a plate of metal inset into the cave wall.

The Depths

Elite Treasure

Basic equipment

Requires: Level 112

Basic equipment

Requires: Level 110

“Let’s hope it’s not a molemen lair,” Laura growled, remembering the Othary access to the trunk and their last guardian chest. Jonas hoped the resemblance between the mole-rats and the other stopped there.

The team started running, feet pounding on the rock path.